A reader and writer fooling with words

Purloin and Invading Normans

This week’s word is purloin, simply because I like the way it sounds when you say it. Of course there are many ways to say you’ve stolen something – lifted, nicked (which can land you in the Nick), thieved, burgled, poached, scrumping etc but for me purloin implies a theft that isn’t entirely serious – a wig borrowed for a disguise, thieving a trifling item, not performing a major heist.

I would love to report that purloin came from the sound of a cat burglar (a purr, of course) combined with the preferred meal of a sneak-thief (loin of pork with apple sauce – apples scrumped of course), but sadly that is not the case.

We can blame the French for purloin, without implying any greater propensity amongst that nation towards theft. In Anglo-Norman French the word pur meant forth (I assume this works in purpose too) and loign meant far (as in distance). Combined they gave the verb purloigner which meant to put away. I must remember that one the next time I request my darling son to purloigner his clean socks. Just as the Normans invaded Britain, so too did many of their words and hence we find purloin (to put at a distance) in Middle English and gradually changing to mean stealing.

I think that ties in with my approach to purloin. If I purloin those socks from my son, there’s nothing to say that I won’t return them from that distance at some future time, right? I wouldn’t recommend relying on that reasoning in court though – purloin is clearly defined as theft in legal dictionaries.

I’m aware that some of you are writers as well as readers. I’m planning a post/article on the topic of The Secret Language of Writers (ARC, maid&butler, POV etc) – if you’d like to suggest a term for inclusion, jot a comment below. Thank you.